“Here we are.” Terrence said as they reached the post separating the second floor from the third. “Be wary. The Moor is just beyond those gates, and it’s pretty soggy.”

“I know.” Reaper nodded. “Read all about it. Let’s go.”

The door’s hinges moaned as its tumblers and hinges popped the wooden door outward. Dust curled off the floor as Terrence tucked away the key, picking up their lanterns as they stepped into the sealed floor.

“The Moors are pretty new. No one’s comfortable with letting newbies wander around it, or even experienced horses like myself.” Terrence said as they walked down the last few paces of the Stone Furnace, down to the third floor of the dungeon. “It’s a bit like the Overgrown Caverns in that it’s green and wet, but they’re Moors.”

“A running theory on top is that these Moors are actually, how do I put it? A bit like a sandwich, buffering the heat of the second floor between the two.” Reaper voiced. “I think it’s one of the reasons both of those floors aren’t dead, and nothing is burning down on top because of it.”

“I think attaching reason to a dungeon is bound to fail.” Terrence said- and gagged, spitting on the long grass splitting between the stones. “Oh, gods. I will never get it out of my coat, ew.”

“Will you be alright down here? Do you need-” Reaper’s words were quickly cut off. He blinked, then bent over to gag too when the wind turned and blew a horrid stench into his nose. The stench was as overbearing as it was choking, turning what should have been a nice breeze completely acrid. The smell of decay hit them like a brick to the muzzle. It began to consistently wash over them the further they went into the marshlands. As one they turned to the upper reaches. So did the wind that suddenly blew even more of that acrid smell into their muzzles.

Terrence nodded before snoring, clearing most of the stench from his nose. “I am not stopping here if you’re going to get sick.” He warned. “It’s going to get worse later.”

“At the risk of sounding a bit cliche…this place gives me the creeps.” Reaper said. His breath hitched a little. “We should be as careful as we can down here. I’d vote for staying here to see what the effects are before we need to fight and can’t while hacking our lungs out.”

“Great visual, kid.” Terrence winced at it. “How morbid are you?”

“I was nicknamed this for a reason, you know.” Reaper sarcastically replied, and cantered to the open little bit of door. He shoved it open with his shoulder. The moment Reaper and Terrence stepped into the Moor proper, the stench multiplied.

“Shit.” Reaper coughed. His step went wrong and with a loud splash, his hoof sunk into the marshy wetland. He pulled it out with a groan and blanched. Red. His black fur, the color of shadow, had turned a deep red, far too red for it to mean anything good. “Oh, crap. Terrence?”

At the sound of his voice, Terrence turned around. He brayed and motioned for them to continue. "It was nothing, just the color of the mud. Decaying plants, they turn red down here."

That did not feel right but Reaper tried to shake off his unease and follow the Courser. Yet the ringing sense of unease he got from the patches of marshland meant he consciously tried to stay out or turn around them. His hooves itched each time he approached them, his wet leg protesting the most. But the sheer anxiety clawing at his chest when he stepped into one forced him to reconsider. He couldn’t afford to panic with the danger that close.

All this led to Reaper walking around open patches of marsh while his sinuses cleared in a sort of hopping pattern that would have made Helissent and Thunderstepper keel over laughing if they had seen it. Luckily, the two were a bit busy helping Seep with his patrols.

At the end of the path, Terrence stopped them. “This is as far as I’m going today. It’s the furthest we have managed to map so far.” The Courser tossed his mane, tilting his head. “The floor is giving us quite a lot of difficulty mapping it.”

“It’s the Moor’s tides, right?” Reaper wondered aloud. “Because of the fluctuating water levels it keeps-“

“Moving, yes.” Terrence ended it. He climbed back onto the higher tile path they had been following and once again took the lead. “See, let's head back before we have to move too. Let’s go.”

“Have you seen anything interesting?” Reaper asked. He scouted the open little space he could see through the marshlands. Bronze statues of odd shapes and metal buried below a swampy battlefield of remains. But he could not see it today- the water was too high up to see it well.